Iran: Israel links may hurt Europe

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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned Europe that it may pay a heavy price for its support of Israel.

"You should believe that this regime (Israel) cannot last and has no more benefit to you. What benefit have you got in supporting this regime, except the hatred of the nations?" he said in nationally broadcast speech Friday.

"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region," he said.

"We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt."

Ahmadinejad's comments came on Jerusalem Day -- when Iranians are officially encouraged to show their support for the Palestinians.

These remarks were made a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Iran would "have a price to pay" if it continued down the path of its nuclear ambitions.

Olmert was speaking to reporters Thursday on his way home from a three-day trip to Moscow. Israel, along with the United States and other Western powers, rejects Tehran's claim that its nuclear program is peaceful, designed solely to produce energy.

The Iranian leader has long spoken out against Israel, saying the Jewish nation should be "wiped off the map."

He has not since repeated that phrase but often launches verbal attacks on Israel, whose right to exist Iran has not recognized since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

On Friday, Ahmadinejad said there was no justification for the "Zionist regime" -- a term he often uses when referring to Israel -- arguing that it is on the verge of disintegration.

"Efforts to stabilize this fake regime, by the grace of God, have completely failed," he said.

He also called Israel's leaders a "group of terrorists."

Ahmadinejad has also sparked outrage in the West by describing the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis, as a "myth."